2019 MILITARY MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARDS Purpose: The SAIGE Meritorious Service Award honors military members, Department of Defense civilian employees and military veterans in government service, who have supported the DoD or their agency’s mission, whose attributes best epitomized the qualities and core values of their respective military service or DoD Component and promoted a positive image of Native Americans in uniform. Date of Event: 13 June 2019 Location: Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino, Niagara Falls, NY Eligibility: Military Members, Civilian Employees and Veterans Performance Period: January 2018 – March 2019 Due Date: 5 April 2019 SAIGE Point of Contact: Mr. Danny Garceau, SAIGE Warrior Society Director, danny.garceau@saige.org Please click here to…

The election for new officers and board members just concluded. Congratulations to the following officers and board members. Fredericka Joseph, Chair, Duane Matt, Vice Chair and Phil Hamel, Secretary. The new board members are Jay Spaan, Danny Garceau, Lori Windle, Juanita Mullen and Georgeie Reynolds. Thank you to all those who voted in this election. Best regards, Sue Morris Election Committee Chair

Help SAIGE realize our goals of creating the best possible Training Program for tribal, federal and state government employees; secure scholarship monies for students; support tribal communities when in need; and help to build the capacity of the organization so that SAIGE can continue to implement our mission in a wide ranging and robust way. Please remember SAIGE in your year end donation plans – thank you so much.

Watch for CFC Events near you this fall – Campaign runs from September 10, 2018 – January 11, 2019. OPM has a new one-stop way to make your pledge now – go to https://cfcgiving.opm.gov/welcome Now you can contribute even if you have retired from Federal Service. Check it out!

Indigenous Geographies Overlap in This Colorful Online Map Native Land highlights territories, treaties, and languages across the U.S., Canada, and beyond. BY CECILIA KEATING JULY 24, 2018 FOR CENTURIES, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND their traditional territories have been purposefully left off maps by colonizers as part of a sustained campaign to delegitimize their existence and land claims. Interactive mapping website Native Land does the opposite, by stripping out country and state borders in order to highlight the complex patchwork of historic and present-day Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages that stretch across the United States, Canada, and beyond. Visitors to the site can enter a street address or ZIP code into the…

Amazon’s fourth-annual Prime Day is coming up on Tuesday, July 17 and will feature one-of-a-kind deals exclusively for Prime members. You shop. Amazon gives. Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service. Support your charitable organization by starting your shopping at smile.amazon.com Your shopping makes a difference. Amazon donates to SAIGE – Society of American Indian Government Employees when you shop Prime Day deals at  smile.amazon.com/ch/74-3068342 Thank you for supporting SAIGE!

Greetings! The final agenda for “Sovereignty, Trust and Resilience” is now available for you to access. Note: this is for the overall Training Program and does not include agendas for the Veterans’ Track or the Youth Track. We look forward to seeing you there! DOWNLOAD AGENDA HERE

The SAIGE 2018 Planning Committee is very excited to announce the release of the Draft Agenda for the 15th Annual National Training Program! Please access the link below to download the draft agenda. 4-19-18 SAIGE NTP Draft Agenda We encourage you to share this with your colleagues, friends, EEO and Training officers, and we hope to see you in Green Bay in June! Contacts for information: Registration:  lwindle@saige.org   303-293-5082 Exhibitors/Vendors: phil.hamel@saige.org or dmatt@saige.org Veterans Track/Warrior Society: Danny.Garceau@saige.org Partnerships: partnerships@saige.org Pre-Program Forums: Chair@saige.org Speakers: Jay.Spaan@saige.org  Youth Track: Brant.Joann@epa.gov

The Board has extended the deadline for nominations for SAIGE Achievement Awards to April 14. So if you know of someone who is deserving of recognition in your agency or unit, please visit   https://saige.org/member-resources/scholarships/ to download the application. There are many people who are doing good work who do not receive any recognition. This is your opportunity to change that. BACKGROUND: American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) employment represents 1.7 percent, approximately 30,010 (a decrease from 32,251 in 2010) of the permanent Federal Workforce. The purpose of these awards are to recognize agencies and individuals who through their personal commitment and professional initiative have made demonstrable contributions in the recruitment, retention and…

In 2015, the Office of Personnel Management discontinued its practice of approving events as training, and delegated that responsibility to the agencies. Here is the Memorandum that defines what qualifies as training when an agency is making a determination to send an employee. The OPM policy on conferences as a training activity is in 5 CFR 410.404. Information on this topic is also available at http://www.opm.gov/WIKI/training/Training-Administration-Fast-Facts-Index.ashx – Determining if a Conference is a Training Activity. Additionally, SAIGE has developed a document that details how its Annual National Training Program fulfills these requirements. Click HERE for the Special Announcement to Agency Heads and Training Directors. We look forward to a successful…